Darkness in literature + Isaac Asimov | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/series/darkness-in-literature+isaacasimov
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Darkness in literature: 'Nightfall' by Isaac Asimovhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/19/darkness-nightfall-isaac-asimov
The struggle between science and superstition in Asimov's classic short story rings as true today as it did 70 years ago<p>Stumbling out from beneath <a href="http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/scenic-attractions/planetarium/" title="">the 45-tonne bronze cone of London's planetarium</a>, unsteady from a virtual voyage through the solar system and beyond, you can picture the earth turning beneath your feet. Stand there on the brow of the hill in Greenwich Park, your head still full of planets spinning on their computer-generated orbits, with <a href="http://www.oddfellows-nld.co.uk/200th_birthday_celebrations.htm" title="">the National Maritime Museum, the curve of the river, Canary Wharf</a> and all the city stretched out beneath you, and the vista seems to roll inexorably east towards the curtain of night. Darkness is an inescapable fact of life on earth, an astronomical certainty which, for all the terror it brings in childhood, gives our daily existence its rise and fall, its ebb and flow, as night follows day follows night.</p><p>But what if it wasn't like that? What if night were not only dense and all-encompassing, but also sudden and unexpected? What if daylight were so pervasive, so constant, that total darkness was unimaginable, inconceivable? What if there were no one <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/dec/13/darkness-literature-jill-tomlinson-owl" title="">to teach us how not to be afraid of the dark</a>?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/19/darkness-nightfall-isaac-asimov">Continue reading...</a>Isaac AsimovScience fiction booksShort storiesFictionBooksCultureWed, 19 Dec 2012 10:52:27 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/dec/19/darkness-nightfall-isaac-asimovPhotograph: Douglas Kirkland/CorbisParallel worlds … Isaac Asimov. Photograph: Douglas Kirkland/CorbisPhotograph: Douglas Kirkland/CorbisParallel worlds … Isaac Asimov. Photograph: Douglas Kirkland/CorbisRichard Lea2012-12-19T10:52:27Z